John 14:21

Verse 21. He that hath, &c. This intimate union is farther manifested by these facts:

1st. That true love to Jesus will produce obedience. See Jn 14:15.

2nd. That those who love him will be loved of the Father, showing that there is a union between the Father and the Son.

3rd. That Jesus also will love them, evincing still the same union. Religion is love. The love of one holy being or object is the love of all. The kingdom of God is one. His people, though called by different names, are one. They are united to each other and to God, and the bond which unites the whole kingdom in one is love.

Will manifest myself to him. To manifest is to show, to make appear, to place before the eyes so that an object may be seen. This means that Jesus would so show himself to his followers that they should see and know that he was their Saviour. In what way this is done, see Jn 14:23.

(t) "He that hath" Jn 14:15,23

John 14:23

Verse 23. Will keep my words. See Jn 14:15.

We will come to him. We will come to him with the manifestation of pardon, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It means that God will manifest himself to the soul as a Father and Friend; that Jesus will manifest himself as a Saviour; that is, that there will be shed abroad in the heart just views and proper feelings toward God and Christ. The Christian will rejoice in the perfections of God and of Christ, and will delight to contemplate the glories of a present Saviour. The condition of a sinner is represented as one who has gone astray from God, and from whom God has withdrawn, Ps 58:3, Prov 27:10 Eze 14:11. He is alienated from God, Eph 2:12, Is 1:4, Eph 4:18 Col 1:21. Religion is represented as God returning to the soul, and manifesting himself as reconciled through Jesus Christ, 2Cor 5:18; Col 1:21.

Make our abode. This is a figurative expression implying that God and Christ would manifest themselves in no temporary way, but that it would be the privilege of Christians to enjoy their presence continually. They would take up their residence in the heart as their dwelling-place, as a temple fit for their abode. See 1Cor 3:16: "Ye are the temple of God;" Jn 14:19: "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost;" 2Cor 6:16: "Ye are the temple of the living God." This does not mean that there is any personal union between Christians and God--that there is any peculiar indwelling of the essence of God in us-- for God is essentially present in all places in the same way; but it is a figurative mode of speaking, denoting that the Christian is under the influence of God; that he rejoices in his presence, and that he has the views, the feelings, the joys which God produces in a redeemed soul, and with which he is pleased.

(v) "and we will come into him" 1Jn 2:24, Rev 3:20
Copyright information for Barnes